Multi-user computer-controlled video gaming systems are well-known to be provided by Personal Computers or game consoles. These systems mainly include a computing device, i.e. the PC or console, a display device such as a monitor or TV screen, and two or more user input devices such as gamepads, joysticks etc. These systems are limited to a lower number of users and thus cannot be used to provide games and entertainment to a larger group or audience having e.g. 50, 100 or even more users (players).
In order to extend the number of players new systems have been developed for so-called theater gaming which is a modern technology in the field of computer-based games. These systems comprise cinema equipment, a server and gamepads so that a large group of players, i.e. the theater audience, can jointly play computer games. Such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,982 B1 which describes a large screen, interactive, computer-controlled motion picture theater video gaming system. The system comprises display devices (video projector with a large screen), a computing device (computer) for outputting video data to be outputted by the display devices. In order to provide user-control for running the game there are several user input devices (called “user stations”), one for each user and his/her individual input. These input devices have basically the normal design of game controllers, i.e. they have buttons, sticks, sliders and the like which are to be pressed or moved by the respective user. This means that each input device generates input data depending on the individual input of the respective user, the input data being sent to the computer for controlling the game, in particular for controlling the behavior of the user's avatar (personal game character) during the running game. Thus each user can participate to the game by interactively controlling his/her avatar or an associated object, like a car, a motorbike etc. However, it would be desirable to have also a conjointly control of the same object by two or more users during a running game.
In other words: In classical interactive game applications the individual players just can control their personal avatars and may then get individual feedback onscreen and/or via sound, gamepad vibration etc. Applications that allow huge groups to interact together need a completely different concept of control and feedback to satisfy users with an enjoyable experience. At present the known video gaming systems do not provide a conjointly control of the same object by two or more users during a running game. In particular there are no systems or method for providing control input data for a conjointly multi-user control of a certain object, such as an avatar or a group of game characters being displayed in video game motion pictures.
Game mechanics are known as such to be a construct of rules intended to produce an enjoyable game or gameplay. All games use mechanics; however, theories and styles differ as to their ultimate importance to the game. In general, the process and study of game design is the effort to come up with game mechanics that allow for people playing a game to have a fun and engaging experience. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 7,216,870 a resource point game mechanic is disclosed. Since the prior art games are not designed to be played by a large larger group or audience having e.g. 50, 100 or even more users (players), the known game mechanics cannot manage the inputs from so many players. Thus there is a need for new game mechanics which are controllable by a large group of players. In particular cinema games have unique constraints compared to regular computer and video games. All players share one big screen and interact with the same objects. Further to this the game has to work in the same manner independent on how many players play the game, may this be only a few or several hundreds of players. These constraints demand a different approach to the game design and call for different mechanics to allow all players to feel in control of the game and to understand the feedback the group gets as much as understand their personal feedback.